1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a receiving apparatus, and more particularly to display of electric program guide (EPG) data transmitted in the digital television broadcasting.
2. Related Background Art
In the current digital satellite television broadcasting utilizing the communication satellite (CS), the electric program guide (EPG) data are broadcast together with the image data as a part of the services to the observers. Also similar service is anticipated in the currently planned digital satellite TV broadcasting utilizing the broadcast satellite (BS) or the ground wave digital TV broadcasting (such digital satellite TV broadcasting and ground wave satellite TV broadcasting will hereinafter be collectively called “digital TV broadcasting”).
The EPG data are received by a receiver, and the program information (program table) by the EPG data are displayed on a display device. The EPG data includes the channel name, program name, broadcasting date and time, content of the program etc., and the user can judge the value of the program.
However the EPG data in the current broadcasting system are not interchangeable among different broadcasting entities and are independently transmitted by each CS broadcasting entity or CATV broadcasting entity. For this reason, in case the user engaged with plural broadcasting entities wishes to search a desired program from all the available programs regardless of the broadcasting path, it has been necessary to display the EPG for each broadcasting entity and search the desired program from such displays.
The program supply paths to each home will further increase when the digital satellite TV broadcasting utilizing the broadcast satellite and the ground wave digital TV broadcasting currently planned are started hereafter.
Also the EPG data will become available not only through the broadcast waves but also from an internet site such as a TV guide site or packaged media such as a CD-ROM attached to a magazine.
The program search will become further complicated with the increase hereafter of the supply sources of the EPG data.
Furthermore, in the BS digital TV broadcasting or in the ground wave digital TV broadcasting, the form of transmission of the EPG data may hereafter change since there will appear plural broadcasting entities for which the public character is required. For example, the minimum program information as currently published in the TV column of newspapers may be broadcast as the information common to all the stations (hereinafter called “all-station EPG”) in the same content from all the stations, while the more detailed program information (hereinafter called “station specific EPG”) may be transmitted in a channel belonging to each station.
In such case the user judges the value of the program by at first observing the outline information by the all-station EPG and then obtaining the detailed program information by the station-specific EPG, so that there are required cumbersome operations.